The real reason behind this site is my love of cider and cidermaking.
I define cider by the traditional, old-world term where it is the fermented juice
of apples. Here in North America cider tends to refer to raw or at least
minimally processed unfermented apple juice, but I reserve the terms 'apple juice' or
'sweet cider' for that product.

I don't mean in any way for this section to be a definitive tutorial on
cider and its making, but rather a snapshot of what works for me and what I may try down
the road. Anyone looking for a basic yet very thorough primer on cidermaking should
visit the excellent website which Andrew
Lea runs. There is also an email list, Cider Digest, run by Dick Dunn where cidermakers can share and acquire
knowledge on the subject. There are also a couple of great books on the subject:Proulx,
Annie and Lew Nichols. Cider: Making, Using, and
Enjoying Sweet & Hard Cider. 2nd Edition. Pownal, VT: Storey
Publishing, 1997.

'Hard' cider in my neck of the woods (northern New England) has taken on
two very different meanings referring to substandard product. The first and most
refers to the New England farmhouse cider tradition which has waned in the past
century. I have tasted many ciders made in this style, some very good but
unfortunately many not so. As we lost our farmhouse orchards and neighborhood mills
we lost the knowledge and infrastructure to continue to make great farmhouse ciders.
Some people who carried on continue to use questionable equipment (vinegar barrels,
anyone?) and poor apples gleaned from commercial orchard culls or drops. Much of the lore
behind this style of cider lives on only in oral tradition, where legend of Uncle Eddie's
'give you the shits' cider and numerous headache potions lives on. Often these tales are
spread by succeeding generations of people who have never tasted the product themselves.
The myth behind the old cider tradition and its knock-you-to-the-floor liquors is a
real impediment to finding appreciation of good craft ciders.

On the other hand we have the some modern commercial cider styles
in which little apple juice is used and the
product is a sweet, fizzy alco-pop marketed toward the old wine cooler set. These
'ciders' offer no complexity of flavor and have no real link to a cidermaker's craft, but
rather fill a market segment, and a very competitive one at that. Picture a product that
is going up against Mike's Hard Lemonade, Zima, Smirnoff Ice, and the like, and you'll see
a completely manufactured drink that does no service to the cider name.

So how do I define real cider? Again, it is the
fermented juice of the apple. There are numerous techniques that can be used to
develop styles of cider, and I will discuss these in further sections. There is
enough goodness in the sweet cider base to make a truly refined, high quality drink worthy
of being served alongside wines in the finest restaurants. But make no mistake-
cider is not wine, nor beer, but its own drink which is worthy of distinction on its
own terms.